My guest today on the Online for Authors podcast is Leslie K Simmons, author of the book Red Clay, Running Waters.  Leslie K. Simmons writes about extraordinary people at the center of crucial turning points in American history. She is particularly fascinated by outliers and the lesser known (but no less incredible) stories that slip through history’s cracks. After decades of research, she followed a path marked by serendipities to the true story of John and Sarah Ridge and her debut novel, Red Clay, Running Waters.

In my book review, I stated Red Clay, Running Waters​ is a masterful account of John Ridge, a Cherokee statesman and his wife, Sarah Northrop. Simmons’ research is phenomenal and gives readers a glimpse into what it was like as Georgia tried to force the Cherokee from its borders.

Quite honestly, I had trouble reading and could only take the novel in small doses. Not because of the writing – which was flawless – but because of what I learned about how my government treated the Cherokee – lying, slandering, stealing, and killing.

In addition to the heartless treatment of a great People, the book also looks at love. The relationship between Sarah and John is beautiful, though in no way perfect. Despite having continual trials, this couple found a way to keep moving forward. It certainly gave me hope.

This is not a book for the faint of heart, but one that should be on everyone’s TBR list.

You can follow Author Leslie K Simmons:

Website: leslieksimmons.com

FB: @leslieksimmons-author

IG: @lksimmonsauthor

LinkedIn: @leslie-k-simmons-author

Teri M Brown, Author and Podcast Host: https://www.terimbrown.com

FB: @TeriMBrownAuthor

IG: @terimbrown_author

X: @terimbrown1

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Teri M Brown Award-winning Author and Podcast Host

Born in Athens, Greece as an Air Force brat, Teri M Brown graduated from UNC Greensboro. She began her writing career helping small businesses with content creation and published five nonfiction self-help books dealing with real estate and finance, receiving multiple awards. In 2017, after winning the First Annual Anita Bloom Ornoff Award for Inspirational Short Story, she began writing fiction in earnest, and published her debut novel in 2022, Sunflowers Beneath the Snow, a historical fiction set in Ukraine, which has won twelve awards. Her second novel published in 2023, An Enemy Like Me, takes place during WWII, winning 27 awards. Her latest novel, Daughters of Green Mountain Gap, a generational story about Appalachian healers came out in January 2024 and has already won three awards. Teri is a wife, mother, grandmother,podcaster, and author who loves word games, reading, bumming on the beach, taking photos, singing in the shower, hunting for bargains, ballroom dancing, playing bridge, and mentoring others. Learn more at www.terimbrown.com.